001I thought it was like a jumpsuit downstairs. You're good. Okay. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Abington High School Board meeting for Wednesday, November 19th. Would everyone please rise and place the flag? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible and justice for all >> Mr. Abdella >> here. >> Mr. Azar >> here. >> Mrs. Henderson >> here. >> Mrs. Hillibbrand, Mrs. Karum >> here, >> Mr. Moran, >> Mr. Robson >> here, >> Mrs. Tierney >> here, >> Mr. Aker >> I do that all the time, too, man. >> Seven present. >> We get caught every time. start a motion to approve the minutes. >> So moved. Second. >> Motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Abdella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Azar. >>
002Yes. >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Karum. >> Yes. >> Mr. Robson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? >> Yes. >> Mr. Aker? >> Yes. 70. >> May I please have a motion to approve the minutes for the meetings of October 22nd and November 5th, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Karum, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Abdella, >> yes. >> Mr. Aker, >> yes. 70. >> Okay, we're going to make a little bit of a change to the agenda tonight. Uh we don't have our student representatives here and um uh Dr. Schaefer still has to prepare his uh speech, so he's going to ask that we
003move it below the public comment. So, we're going to do public comment now. And I believe I see some uh people out there that are going to uh h have a bit of something going on. In any case, I'd like to uh call up Mrs. Magna. got a fan. >> Hello. >> I'm here because of MT >> Michelle. I just I hope they're dry. Tyranny. And I just want to speak about how much I admire Michelle. and I was trying to come up with words and I think she's very and has been her entire time on this board mindful motivated and just had merit in everything that she has done. So I just cannot say enough about Michelle tyranny. She has tried and tried everything. She's true to her morals and the values of the
004school district and she's very well trusted by all. So Michelle, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for always being there when I had questions and just knowing you are someone I can always come to. So thank you. >> Thank you, Helen. uh >> since I think we're gonna have I think we're going to have some followups. Mrs. Mrs. >> Hardway prepared and you were all prepared and had little things. I saw Mickey today at a commissioner's meeting where I was speaking and she was there speaking also and she told me this was her last night and I was like, "Oh, Mickey, this is momentous." Because I remember after 17 years having my last night and I didn't speak because I'm a crybaby, but I think I can speak to
005you tonight, Mickey. And the thing that came to my mind was um I call you friend. And let me tell you, over those 17 years, I developed friendships with people in situations that were sometimes pretty adversarial. Sometimes we didn't agree and like each other so much. But over those years, because of integrity, honesty, passion, commitment, I have a friend and I can call Mickey at any time and say, "Hey, I need you." And she's there miraculously. She's there and always has the time. So, I want to thank you for that. And I say to the current board, I hope the same thing is happening. Because we had one board member, I won't mention any names. When it was extremely contentious, he would look at me and say, "Hard away. Want to have a beer?" And
006yes, it was time for a beer together. And that fellowship and that time together really united us in purpose, focus, and vision because we all came here in the best interest of the students and the school district. And I will tell you one of the most favorite things I did was when we were hiring teachers because I would look at that teacher and say it's a third grade teacher and I've had three students in the school district and I look look at that person and want to believe that that was the best person that we could put in front of those students for third grade because though that teacher may have many years to hone their skills that third grader had one And I can say I can proudly say um in the years that
007I served I believe that was our purpose. And not every school district has that purpose and I believe it makes us one of the best school districts in the area. And I say that proudly and I've seen in the 17 years of course my daughter started in kindergarten and I got to hand her her diploma and that's pretty cool on that day when you get to hand diplomas to students. And one the last thing that comes to mind is um well done good and faithful servant. Well done. But thank you Nikki. >> Thank you Mrs. >> Hardway. Uh Mrs. Hardaway. >> Mrs. Hardway. Thank you for your service. Um I I believe you probably have the the record for being board president for the longest. I could be wrong, but Mickey >> I think she
008is. Y >> followed by if I see Mrs. Bashki back there. >> You know, I can't possibly Well, I will never know. I've never known you to be able at a loss for words. >> Everything I'm crying, so it's gonna be hard. >> I really am emotional. Thank you. I really am. It's I'm sorry I can't do it, but thank you, Vicki. Kathy, you got me all She said, >> "Thank you, Louise, for all your thoughts. Kathy, Mike, Greg, M, >> Mr. Fleming, would you like to >> Thank you all for for for coming in support. Um, you all know the years of service that you all put in and we put in together and man, we were a team. Um, we made things happen and it's been an honor to work with all of
009you, both presidents and thank you both, all of you for come out and supporting me tonight on my last night here. >> Had foot surgery, so she couldn't be. >> Oh, I' I've been on the phone with >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> So, Mr. Fleming or Mr. Manski, would you like to chime in, please? >> I'm good, but You can't get away. >> Kathy said, but I'm just saying you serving on the board for 12 years made me a better person and hopefully we made a difference while we serve. But uh you know your friendship has been great and you made me a better person as well. So it's a great time to serve children's lives. Thank you for your service. >> Thank you Mike. Craig, >> hopefully I don't
010cry because my daughter's you know they expose me to Hallmark movies and I cry all the time. >> Uh >> join the club. >> But it's it is it was a privilege serving with all of you. Uh and again we did it for the kids. We did it for the community and our group and and you know Mike and I were on the board the same length of time, 12 years. I couldn't tell you what party anybody was because I could care less because we were there for a reason. The community, the kids, the school district, that's all we cared about. Yes, we did have differences. And we argued, but what was nice about it was once we argued, it was like it's over with. And I may disagree with you. I don't agree with
011you. But we walked out friends and comrades and just went on our business. And when we voted and it whatever passed, we if you were against it didn't matter. That was the majority. And that's that's the way we looked at it. We were not I my experience we were not political. And that's what what in today's society I think that we need more of that. But anyway, thank you. Your friendship has been great. I know my wife and you went to school together. Uh like everybody here, kids go through school. Fantastic school district. Please keep up the good work and thank you for serving and Michelle love you. >> Thank you, Greg. I I I have got one a few words to say and all of you can attest to this. just say no to
012Joe. >> So, so thank you all of you for serving on this happening school board. You did make a difference. You paved the way for us. We appreciate what you guys did and you showed us how to how to do it right. And I think Greg hit the nail on the head. Focus on the kids in the school district, not on what everything else that goes on. So, thank you. Uh, Dr. Schaefer. >> Yeah. So, we did celebrate Mickey before uh we came up here and I'd gonna show that off. Mickey, why don't you do that? >> Put it on. >> You got to put it on, Mickey. >> Come on. >> Turn it around. It's our name on the side. She's official. Uh so there there's a couple things that I would like to
013say uh about a few people in the room and and I'm not going to be redundant, but I will reiterate a little bit of what I said downstairs uh uh about a Mickey. And as uh a father of daughters, I have uh many interesting conversations with this 17 and 18 uh yearear-old. And one of the things that I admire most about uh Mickey is her willingness to uh support our kids uh through extracurriculars in athletics. I feel that she serves as a very strong role model to all of our student athletes, but again, I'm biased here. Um, but especially our young women today and modeling how you can be a leader and how you can code switch of sorts and come down and support the students. If you took a look at our organizational chart,
014you would see that who who runs the district. It is our board, right? These are elected by our constituents and every day after school she's there on the ground level working with the most important people in our organization, our customers and our students. So, um, a tip of the hat to Mickey and and and we thank you and we know that you will continue to help our our kids in cross country and track because that's going to be hard for her to let her go. in a very difficult uh transition and segue here. We have another person at the table who this will be their last >> Oh, I was I was going to get to them after. >> Is that right? >> Let them go. What uh one more person and that and that's
015Sue O day and this and I know this is um this is bittersweet. Uh Sue works in our purchasing and student services and she's so much more uh than that. uh she's a proud mom and and nanny and she does an excellent job helping us out here as as our board secretary, but I can tell you as the the superintendent, very few times do you have somebody that everybody knows and if you've worked in a district, we we purchase a lot of things. paper clips, paper mats, working on a middle school, and so somebody has to be talking to all the vendors and everybody knows Sue and they know that if there's a a problem or if there's a delay that they're not emailing board members, they're not emailing me that they could pick up
016the phone and and talk to Sue. So on behalf of the board and the administration, faculty and staff, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you and provide you with these lovely flowers. >> I think somebody else wants to say something. >> Who could that be? >> Hello, >> Michelle Snider. Summit. I had to write this. I had to write it down because I would be too nervous. So, I'm speaking to you as both an employee and a daughter. Hopefully, congratulations on your board approved retirement. Um, for over 30 years, you have served the district and community. From starting as a building aid at South Abington to your current administrative role as director of business services, you've shown up each day committed to the work, the people, and the students. Um, I think what's unique
017about your position is it's very much behind the scenes of what we are as a school and educators. So, a couple things to just point out. As Dr. Schaefer said, we do or a lot of ordering, but I do think it's um especially important to just note and thank you for keeping our schools and our buildings fully stocked with the supplies, materials we need so that teachers can provide um highly effective instruction for our students. keeping our accounts in order and organized so our students have the opportunity to experience extracurriculars for maintaining and ensuring smooth operations of our cafeterias so our students bellies are full and they are ready to learn I wrote on a a bus map so um it it has truly been an opportunity a great opportunity for me and a gift
018um to be your co-orker for the last three plus years so your replacement has big shoes to fill for me in a lot of ways is um but I'm excited for you to just fully embrace this next chapter chapter um with me and and with all the grandkids. So, congratulations. >> I have something to say about Wait a minute. >> Oh, >> may I may I rise for public comment? I >> You can rise. Say your name any time. >> Um >> uh Jim Marabelli Clark Summit prosper just up the just up the road there. Um, you know, I rise to celebrate uh two people tonight, but I I would be remissed if I didn't stand to talk about Suo Day um who welcomed me here and you've already had a couple of decades on
019me before I arrived about 15 years ago. I'm sorry, 13 years ago. Um, and uh Sue is undoubtedly our workhorse, right? Like jack of all trades, absolute workhorse. and the front lines, maybe behind the scenes as you say, but everybody knows her name. I was in Betaglius the other day and uh Sharon didn't recognize me. She's like, "Where's Sue?" Right. So, uh you know, so she knew me by name, but she's like, "Well, what's going to replace Sue?" She was so concerned where Sue was going uh that that it was just uh it was just a funny moment. But uh I I have to compliment you because oftentimes in school districts um there's a certain hierarchy and there's a certain um you know people are blocked sometimes in their in their roles. Well, Sue worked
020her tail off, took on responsibility day after day, always asking for more more responsibility and never complained once along the way. All types of new regulations come in. Sue was always there to step up along the way and that's a real testament in a world where many people may work to get rid of work. Sue was always taking on work and as a result you know you carved your own path right to the administrative rank. So um it has been an absolute pleasure working with you for the entire time and thank you for welcoming me. Now I'm getting emotional here. Thank you for welcoming me and uh you know I hope you'll stay in touch with us. I know you're close and uh but just sincerely thank you. Thank you. >> Now, Michelle hired me
021along with my our our other friends in the back. Um so, I would be, you know, I try to think of something that hasn't already been said because there's so many The first thing I want to say is thank you for asking about my family, my kids every time. Every single time. The other thing I want to say is you've always challenged me. Always specifically, right? Always had a different way of looking at something. Always had a different question and just a unique way of looking at things that now besides Louise. >> I was going to tell you I've had great teachers. Besides Louise, Michelle was always the board member that I had to prepare for the most coming to the meeting. So, and that truly is a compliment, Michelle. So, thank you for challenging
022me. Thank you for making me better. Thank you all for making me better. But sincerely, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Is there anyone else that would like to speak about Sue or Michelle? I know there's some Michelle wants to make some comments, but before that, anyone else? >> Okay, Michelle, floor is yours. >> I had the privilege of being in high school with Sue OD. Sue OD and I go way back. Um, Sue Oday and I share some hobbies and one is biking. So, I am riding maybe for my third or fourth year in Sue OD's bike that she gave me four or five years ago. Um, Sue has been a great friend and I can speak for the Abington Education Improvement Organization who has always gone to Sue for invoicing and helping to
023get their invoices paid and there was a great conduit with the uh AEIO and and Sue's office. So, I compliment you. You've been a great asset to Abington Heights. You were a great friend in high school and good luck on the roads on your bike. Enjoy your retirement, Sue. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Mrs. Chair. That was very nice. Okay. Uh, we have one other public comment. I I want to apologize because we kind of got caught up in a few things. So, Caitlyn K, uh, please accept our apologies. And, uh, we're we're all ears. >> Not at all. No apology needed. Um, I'm sort of new to the speaking at school board meeting. um junk it here, but it won't be the last because I've got
024lots of passion and ideas. So, um but I can say thank you because um Sue was one of the first welcoming faces on my first meeting and um Mickey, you were um one of the first to give encouragement and um that that um was really uh helpful and why we're still here. So, thank you and good evening members of the board. Um thank you for the opportunity to speak again tonight. My name is Caitlyn Kim and I'm here as both a parent and community member who strongly supports the implementation of full day kindergarten in our district. Recently, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed its fiscal year 2025 2026 budget, which includes more than 900 million in additional funding for pre preK12 preK to 12 public education, including a $565 million increase in adequacy funding, $ 105
025million boost for basic education funding, 40 million increase for special education, 125 million for school infrastructure improvements, and another 175 million in savings tied to charter and cyber charter reform. These additional funds address many of the valid points we've heard from the board around barriers to implementing full day kindergarten. We've also heard that windows windows of opportunity have been missed in the past. I'm here tonight to respectfully ask that the board and administration act now to take full advantage of this funding moment and begin the transition to full day kindergarten. I want to speak tonight specifically to educational equity, an issue close to my heart. I want to give yet another well-deserved shout out to Miss Bvard at Clark Summit Elementary along with their entire excellent team. Full kindergarten is especially important for our students
026who have 504 plans or individualized education programs. These students often require additional support, accommodations, and differentiated instruction delivered by certified teachers and specialists. A full-day program provides time to meet those needs more effectively than a half-day schedule. asking parents to rely on the good fortune that they'll get a spot in a desired private preschool. That those early childhood programs will be able to adequately accommodate neurody divergent children and that parents can afford it through age seven is inequitable when compared to the full day programs of neighboring districts where double the instructional time is given to make meaningful progress on these goals. Our request for full day kindergarten aligns with the commitment to ensure all students have access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed. Given the new state funding and reform momentum, we
027have an opening now to make real progress. I ask the board to direct district leadership to develop a clear plan and timeline for full day kindergarten. Let's ensure we are ready for implementation in a timely, equitable, and fiscally responsible way. Thank you for your dedication to our students and for considering this priority. I want to reiterate that many of us with varied professional experience in these areas are willing to get to work with the board, administrators, and community to see full day kindergarten become a reality in Abington Heights. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. And thank you very much for your patience. >> Okay, Dr. Schaefer. >> I'm going to yield my time in a minute uh to Jim who's going to provide a a budget presentation to the board and community. However, before
028Jim comes up, I want to uh say a couple words uh about the the boys soccer team. And and I've done this in the past. And you know, I'm speaking as not only the the the superintendent, but as a father, uh, as an avid sports fan, and someone that just loves to watch great events. And throughout the the journey to our our boys winning the state championship, I I go to the games that speak with the students and there's a lot of great things to say about the team. There there there isn't enough superlatives. However, there was one observation that I made and several others who were in attendance down in uh northern York County did and it really wasn't written about, but I think it was the embodiment of of focus and excellence. And
029I'd be remiss if I didn't share what I observed and how full of of of joy the joy that I felt when I saw it. uh in the euphoria of this moment of winning the state championship, the the students ran to the stands, we had seemingly a hundred fans, kids that were there right up against the railing. They they they walked up, they were celebrating. The other team uh was certainly disappointed and disheartened and and and I've seen that in Abington as well just a few short years back. And in surveying the field, I I saw the other team's goalie just laying on the ground, had his hands, you know, over his face and his other the other team was across the field and our team was then celebrating in the middle. Three to four
030of our students stopped their celebration, walked over, extended their hand, and pulled up that goalie. And the minute that that happened, I was sitting around a crowd of adults, and the and the focus shifted from what they observed to this microcosm of of of Abington Heights that we were seeing on the field. So I am extremely proud of what our boys achieve not only for themselves as as young men for the school as representatives of their family but things that they've learned that they don't yet know they learned about this experience. But that was a a very proud dad superintendent moment that I I just have to publicly acknowledge. So, thank you to the boys soccer team for all that they've provided to our community over this past fall. With that said, Jim, you will
031be talking about the equally as exciting budget uh for 2526 that was approximately 100 days late, filling a 35% gap in our operating budget. >> Got that? >> Take a second. So, do you want me to click? What do you want to do? >> Otherwise, Justin, >> give that a second to warm up. So tonight, uh, I'm here primarily because I want to give an update on the state budget, um, and how that impacts Abington Heights. Uh, but I but I wanted to start and as soon as the screen comes up, we'll we'll we'll bring it up. I wanted to start talking about because we're we're going to head into budget season, right? So we're in the we're in the midst of like three years. We just finished 24 256 going on right now. 26
03227 we're going to have budget presentations coming up. So I want to start with the foundation of how did we finish up the 2425 fiscal year. Okay. Uh and the the 2425 fiscal year if you look at the general fund on the on the AFR which we have filed uh you will see that the general fund broke even but there's a little bit more to the story. Um there was uh there was $1.6 6 million available in the general fund at the end of the year which customarily every year if there's a surplus we transfer it over to capital reserve. We have many capital needs. Uh so that transfer uh brought the surplus to zero and that transfer was made over to capital reserve and we'll be using that in the future. Um so that
033sounds like good news. I do want to mention though, our health insurance fund uh lost $1.7 million. So all in all, when you look at everything, we basically broke even uh across the board, right? That was driven and this is no secret to anyone uh the pharmaceutical drugs uh are really really hurting us uh right now. And that was that spike was driven by that. Also some highcost claimments. We can't really get into that. Uh but we we were getting hit with both things that you can't get hit with in the same year. Okay. Um so as you know in the 2526 budget we had to invest an additional $1.7 million to level up to get to this uh point in time. So uh we think we have addressed it. I do have an update
034on how that's going. We'll talk about that in a second. Um so let's let's talk about when I stood here in May and June talking about our our budget last year um we we had or I'm sorry for the current year we had 60.4 million in revenues 62 million in expenses and at that time we had a $1.6 million budgetary deficit and I think Mr. Aker looked at me and asked, "Do we have a path to break even?" And I think I told you yes at that time. And the the things that I mentioned were, as we always do, have conservative revenue estimates. Uh we had a contingency in there uh as as we always do. And then we talked about charter school tuition budget, how we budgeted that, and what we had hoped for.
035Um, we also talked about, you know, because, you know, I'm signaling good news is coming, but I also want to at the bottom there, we do have areas of budgetary pressure. Uh, special education costs, medical insurance costs, and maintenance costs are are three of our really uh high drivers of the budget. So after 135 days, the state uh came through for us. Um and uh you'd help me skip by the whole the macro, so we're going to go to the micro. Okay. Uh so how did that impact uh Abington Heights? How did the state budget pass Abington Heights? Uh so we had budgeted $ 8.2 million in basic ed funding. Uh we came in, the state gave us about 40,000 more than we expected. Okay. Special ed funding, uh we budgeted for 2.1, which I
036think we budgeted about flat, maybe maybe a percent. Um and it came in about $2,000 higher than we than we had expected. Uh but where the real money was placed was in the ready tolearn block grant. Uh we had budgeted for $857,000 and we will be receiving a little over 2 million there. So that was a $ 1.14 million uh positive impact overall $1.18 million uh to the good uh positive impact there. Uh so if we if we went back to the last slide and we saw that $ 1.6 million deficit, you can see where this helps pretty significantly uh chipping into that and that's Mr. Aker's path to a break even year, right? Um so any questions on those line items? Oh, I should also call out that the state uh continued the uh
037mental health and safety grant. Uh we've been using that in the past for things like cameras and SRO um for um I've always get it wrong. It's a counselor uh that we that we use there. Um so we've been we've been putting those uh to work. Um I think it was a crisis counselor we we use there. Um, so any questions on those line items and state appropriations? >> Anybody in the public want to ask a question about this? >> The ready tolearn block grant is should I call it a subsidy by another name? Now, we do have to fill out um a grant application, so to speak. However, the regulations are written as such where we can use them for things like teacher salaries, right? That's that's primarily where where we budget them um
038for and you and you don't have to spend them on new teacher salaries. They could be on ongoing uh expenses. >> no. Um I think the terminology they use in the in the accountability broadcast one of them is class size reduction which is a proxy as Jim said for purchasing teachers while on the on the on the face and I and I've said this in Harrisburg and I've also said this in Washington DC when I met with Senator uh Fedterman while he does not control the state budget we just try to get as many ears um as as possible. Um, since losing the court case, they were trying to figure out how to disperse some of these adequacy dollars. Jim and I have talked adnauseium about how we try to figure out the formula, and
039we have not figured out uh what that what that uh uh formula is. However, they drove it out in adequacy uh for I believe one reason is where they could drive it towards instruction, which I agree with. They're saying, "We're going to drive this extra money into school districts. However, we we want it used for the classroom purposes and things like that." Now, there there are many artful ways to utilize the account uh accountability block grant, but as Jim said, we've been using it um for teacher salaries. The cautionary tale I have with the accountability block grant is it's not written into uh the code like the basic education fund, right? Um as many of our board members out there, you've heard the term hold harmless. Um in years past over my 32 years, it
040was it was uh Jim and I had a discussion about this. It was it was pretty easy when we were budgeting for this because, you know, we'd either level it and we just say, "Well, we anticipate the same amount of money because we're not going to get any more, but we would never go over 2%." Um, we certainly wouldn't see this, but we knew that it that it it wouldn't be reduced, you know, outside of things that we observed at the Corbett administration. So I I I do think that the intentions are in the court-ordered detentions that they they keep this uh money coming. With that said, I don't I don't know um what the what the future holds. So I I I don't want to sound like I am glass half empty guy up
041here. We are very very thankful for that to plug some of these holes if I >> absolutely and uh you know the standard really and and what my my past board members will remember if we got 2% in a basic ed subsidy increase in a given year that was kind of a big deal right so these are these are some landmark you know amounts that we you know we really haven't seen except for the last three years so um definitely grateful for it we're we're cautious with with block grants and how we will project this forward that you know those projections will be we'll be working on them next. We're closing 2425 and we'll be we'll be working on 2526 I'm sorry yes 2627 budget and then we'll forecast from there. We're going to have
042to be really careful with how we forecast uh the block grant forward. >> Yeah. Don't don't don't worry there's a twist to the story in here. That's a political twist. Um so the other place that we um I guess benefited uh was cyber charter reform. And before we talk about the nuts and bolts, I I just if you'll indulge me in a quick story. Um you some may recall in the beginning of the budget process, they were floating different ideas like a flat amount $8,000 sounds awesome. It to me that didn't sound practical. it didn't sound like it was going to get the votes to get across. So, like I I'm more of a practical thinker. And uh it was really neat because around the same time I I said, "Chris, what are you thinking
043about this?" And we both kind of came to the view that the four options that were being surveyed of us were not practical options. So, um Chris challenged me to kind of think about it differently and say like we got to think we got to talk about this a different way. How can we recommend something that might actually work, right? So, I went back to my little, you know, uh, business office dungeon, right? And, uh, came up with a few ideas and few things that irked me. Now, the PTE 363 form is the vehicle at which you calculate your tuition rate. So, you can tell the charter schools how much you spend so that they can charge you a commensurate amount, which is like, you know, still to this day just insane to me. Um
044so we said what are the problems with this form and there's there's like a lot of problems with the form but um one of them are you know um we can't deduct cyber charter school tuition. So cyber school tuition is in the calculation so they get paid off of them costing a lot and then that therefore increases our right and I mean to me like that was just bizarre. We talked about they don't have the same buildings, >> right? They don't have the same building requirements. We talked about student activities and things like that. >> And then Chris went to a panel. I What what what panel was that, Chris? >> Yeah, I spoke with the the the the senator put up the legislation, uh, Senator Brown. So it he came in and we we
045kind of were in the war room studying this issue and then he went and spoke and then I didn't really know the day that he went and spoke but like you know we were kind of talking about this but then I heard back from a few business manager friends he's like what is your guy talking about there that's like a pretty good idea you know what I mean so came around some people listened to them and then this ended up lo and behold the the the things that got changed in the code now where if it came from that meeting I choose to believe it did um you know this is this was just not an idea that was being circulated right so Chris spoke eloquently as I'm told by my uh business manager friends
046who are in attendance uh and their superintendent and these are the things that came out uh of it so we get to deduct 100% of regular ed cyber charter tuition which makes sense we shouldn't be paying off of a rate that they're already being paid, right? So, let's deduct that. Uh 100% of tax collection costs, well, they don't collect taxes, so that doesn't make sense that they would, you know, benefit from that. Uh 60% of our student activities costs we can deduct. We can debate if 60% is the right number or not. And then 60% of plant maintenance costs we can deduct out of the calculation. So, um, at the end of the day, we suspect they may have just engineered those last two numbers to get to the number that they need, the savings
047number they needed. But the point remains there was cyber charter reform that people could um that people could agree on. And I think it started with your superintendent having a a great dialogue in front of some important people. Um, so anyway, the whole sum total of that and how it benefits Abington Heights is when you recalculate the charter tuition and if you take our October enrollment, if our October enrollment stays flat for the whole year, we will save somewhere in the neighborhood of $217,000. Okay. Now, they did take away the $100,000 reimbursement that we did receive last year. Now, we budget conservatively. We never budgeted for that. So, I'm showing you what we budgeted for and what the difference is according to our budget and how it impacts us. So, it if all things stay
048the same in Charter World, we'll save a little over $200,000 from that provision. >> Mr. Valley, can you uh tell the the crowd here what our charter ch excuse me charter cyber costs are on an annual? >> Uh our our charter costs are approximately $2 million. Uh I think when most of you left they were under $1 million. >> Two $2 million. Yeah. Since co uh we really haven't seen it go below 1.7. Exactly. >> Louise, you're being too logical. >> How dare you? >> Uh, so I I do Jim and I talked about this. I don't want to get off and around because I I I I I did speak um with with many people about this. most likely very different than how I I speak here about it given the audience, but essentially
049this is how I I I I describe it is even with these adequacy dollars um you will hear a lot of like you said when you take a look at the macro and they like pumping all this money in but essentially it's a big grift. the more we pump in to this PTE 363 as it was a little bit before, the more money getting pumped out to the cyber charters. So then my colleagues were saying, "Wait a minute, these adequacy dollars you you gave us, they're not even enough to cover the increases in the in the in the cyber charter bills." And so, yes, we are grateful that we're having more money put into the accountability block grant. And the twist, Mr. Madensky, is this. I'd look at it like a IRS form that I
050fill out. I've got some deductions, right? And all the way up uh until like well this year we could probably deduct about 80% of the accountability block grant, which was great. We didn't get much, but it was $250,000. And we want that to go to classroom teachers. We wanted that to go to specialists and so that accountability block grant at least 80% of it did not go into the calculation for the tuition for cyber charter. So then they decide to pump in a very disgusting number that you mentioned that's just millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars. Well, our deduction remains the same as the corbid era. So we can deduct approximately $135,000 and this number now you see into the a block grant was probably what 1.1 because you've got all the
051other stuff in there 2 million. So all of that extra stuff goes into the calculation which only elevates the cyber charter and and and and there's a big grift and I think what I said in this meeting uh it was like a little tongue and cheek after I made my point is I said you know look I'm not I'm not an accountant but my brother works for Goldman Sachs and he's a CPA and he tells me this is shady. I said, "So, um, again, we are grateful for the changes, but we will continue to advocate for the rest of the changes, but to be clear, as Jim said, how this really works in my opinion is that it's reverse engineered in education. When we go for grants, when I talk about grants, the first thing
052we look at is what are our high priority needs?" And then we go look for funding in those areas. The budget kind of works the opposite way. So Governor Shapiro puts out a budget of, you know, 50 billion. An opposing party puts it out at 47 billion. They meet in the middle and they have a number and then they say, "How do we get to that number line item by line item?" So when Jim put up the whole 60% thing with uh you know in the new form we can deduct 60% of student activities cost and 60% of plant maintenance and operations. We used to be able to deduct 100%. The only reason that shifted is because you're looking at money to close a gap. >> So that cyber charter rate could be a lot
053lower. But what they're doing is just reverse engineering this formula to get to a number that they agreed upon. So I'm not upset about it, but it just makes me more determined because now it's it's a surgical argument. Now I know, you know, now I don't have to worry about the double counting of our of our tuition and special education and regular education. I know we know exactly where it is and we can have talking points for all board members where we could really zero in to get this this money back because as as as Louise appropriately says is when you take a look at what we what we spend per student in a in a in a classroom and what we're having to pay uh a a cyber charter. It is just uh unjust
054and and we are one of the fortunate districts because we have a really low tuition rate. That's right. >> There are plenty of schools that are paying over $50,000 per student. So >> what is our rate? >> It was about probably 1326 >> rates um >> probably 1326 around that area 12 24 >> well it's not quite double because now we have the 1.89 89 multiplier which is another big um thing that actually this might be the biggest part uh because the special ed rate that is calculated is based on our special >> costs. Generally speaking I think we've learned that there's more needs in the public school than maybe a student who is in a cyber charter school. So it's not really equitable. Like so they're they're taking the cost of our our our
055most needy kids and that's built into the calculation. So now after you take these deductions and you come up with your regular ed rate, you multiply your regular ed rate by 1.89. So you get the lesser of the two, which is it's beneficial. It's not a fortune, but it's it's beneficial to us because our special ed rate has always been more than double the regular rate. So, >> yeah. And and that and that speaks to I'm sorry that we go on a tangent, but it it not a tangent, but this is important because this is a little bit of uh too much detail and I understand it. But if you take one or two things away, that's a win because there are many people that um perhaps aren't following the the budget and you see
056some big numbers and so we're just providing you some some some information which really hurts us financially. So to compound matters of of all of our students attending cyber school, 80% attend a cyber charter. And what I can say unequivocally is um students with the highest needs uh would not receive the types of services that they need in an online atmosphere. It's not practical uh and it's it it it's not effective. uh I would I you know I call it harmful. So what happens is uh the students with special needs that are going to the cyber charter are receiving services mostly itinerate services let's say something like speech which cost us very little certainly not $23,000 if our tuition weight for a regular education student is $12,000 then if I added on what the speech
057cost would maybe maybe $13,000 a year, but certainly not the 23 that we had to spend. And so those are the types of things that the board has to face when when dealing with this. We may not agree with it. It agree with it, but it is what it is that way. And we have to put it out and we have to continue to advocate uh for our cause. So those are those are really important pieces. And the the other thing I wanted to mention in in Jim's uh uh budget presentation is is about healthcare. Uh yes, we are certainly not the only school. In fact, I have not spoken with a superintendent and I've been in numerous meetings that that wasn't the first thing that they said to me alongside with escalating special education
058costs and cyber costs. It it is always um opening uh with that >> and our fund balance >> three >> I'm sorry we areion >> so >> and that's what the increases so um the appropriate word would be uh pr proliferation so The way I I explain health care is that it's like a utility for us. We are self-funded. And when I was a school counselor, I didn't understand insurance. I know I had good insurance, right? I didn't know who paid it. I could just go to the doctor, take my children to the doctor. It was great. Now I see the bills and what's behind it and it becomes very frustrating. And we're all here in the in the district in the same in the in the same health care. But this is how I
059frame it. Every month we pay our health care bill, our utility bill, and it's $600,000. Okay? And it's rising at such a rate that this year over the first three months it's around 650, which over 12 months gives you another month. your 13th month, right? And then we pay stop-loss insurance and of course that also increases to the tune of, you know, closer to 500 or so. Um, we had we had seen this coming. We're working on it and this is uh one of the primary drivers but but um for our early bird contract that we signed with uh the union in August. Uh the new contract for the union starts on I believe September 1st of 2026. However, we did uh negotiate uh new insurance uh Save RX uh where we all believe and
060we collectively work together with the union as a very good partner uh to start this and start it six months early. So, we will start uh our new insurance plan on January the 1st and our our hope is in working with our health care consultants that we can kind of regress back to the mean. So, when I say savings, it all depends on how you uh define savings. In this case, I hope that we can regress back to the mean of the beginning of this year and we will continue to work with our uh insurance uh our healthc care consultants to um you do everything that we can. But I I would I would I would be lying if I told you that it wasn't frustr It's just frustrating and it's and and and it's
061we we're we're doing everything in our control, but um it's just really important for me to talk about this because with the board has to make past and present. uh a lot of difficult decisions and there are so many headwinds that change and change dramatically and trying to get something like healthc care under control is very is very difficult. Um so um thank you Jim for a little bit of that and I don't know if we >> so I that's it for that and I don't want to bel labor a point but uh when I say we've had catastrophic years um we we are among company right so every we work with a number of districts everywhere you look same story everybody's getting crushed in healthcare absolutely crushed haven't heard anybody have a good year
062or even a decent year um this year or the prior crushed everybody. That's that's the word that you're >> crushed. Yeah. Um and it's, you know, like to the point where if somebody gets a 9% projection increase, there's celebration going on and it's it's really really hard to to stomach. Um so if there are no questions on that, I just want to uh give just timeline going forward if if I may. Uh so what we're doing now, uh we file the FR, we're going to we're wrapping up the audit. you're going to start seeing in your board packet the year-to-date financial results, right? So, we'll start talking about how we're doing this year. Um, we're also immediately pivoting to budget development for 2627. We'll present that to you and from there we will create a
063five and 10-year forecast so we can start having a little bit more of those heavy duty conversations that we want to have um you know, capital and other and otherwise. And uh from there, you know, we'll we'll kind of pick those apart, adjust them as necessary, and uh you know, we'll kind of go from there. Anybody have any questions on that process? >> Mr. Tierney. >> Um um Jim, with the certification of the uh reassessment, um when will you get the figures for you to fit into a formula? And do you foresee uh for next year there being any difficulties with getting like having appeals and and like where do you feel the district sits right now with the reassessment? >> All right. So I I could go a lot of ways with that. Okay.
064I can tell you on my desk I have a stack of appeals that is about this high. Okay. I did ask the um the the tax assessor if how are we going to address these before um these go into effect because why that's problematic that we have appeals on future assessment data. We're going to set our millillage based on whatever the county certifies. Okay. If these appeals don't get resolved before that happens, we have set our millillage, right? So, if we let's say we keep the the real estate tax the same, we will get the same revenue that we got in the current year. Now, these appeals roll in. I think we're over 30 now or like we're we're there's a lot of appeals. These appeals roll in and as they get kind of whittleled
065down, we have a new race to the bottom. you don't have a way to make up that revenue that you're losing, right? We work with another district where um the same thing happened. They had a lot more commercial properties. The commercial properties didn't appeal beforehand, right? And then as soon as it was certified, they then appealed. >> That district lost $5 million in recurring revenue over three-year period and then forever. You'd never get that revenue back. >> Yeah. And as Jim talks about, make no mistake, this is a a very strategic game. And when we're talking about a stack of appeals, we're not talking about residents here. We're talking about uh companies, um corporations with land and whatnot. And there are some that have filed appeal. as what Jim said, I anticipate others coming later
066on purpose and part of the reason was it's very difficult uh in this area just like others to find comps for some of these. So then it's our assessment versus your assessment and and and and we start going back and forth. Uh, make no mistake about it. Um, I won't name them. Um, but we've settled a couple uh big ones in the last couple years that span over a decade and just over and over and over. So, um, and I I will say I I I I don't necessarily have a uh well, I guess I do have an opinion on it, but you know, if if you don't assess your properties in over 50 years, then you get this imbalance. So, you know, you reap what you sow sometimes. Not having to This is a
067county issue. Um, so when you don't do it on a consistent basis to make sure that your your your values are set appropriately, then you you get a goofy system where they're trying to equalize everything and you can't do it. And it becomes an open space where, make no mistake about it, we have a list of our 30 highest taxpayers. They're not residents, right? It's probably like a hund they're they're companies. And then we come at and so we're not we're not losing five 10,000 at a time. We're losing 50, 70, 100, 200,000. And so we're losing neighborhoods of revenue. I personally talked to the CEO of Weiss and I said, "You're going to cost us two teachers. That's what you're doing a year." He He didn't show up at Mazone's chambers. It was me
068and two to three lawyers and they didn't back off and that's what he cost. I told Jonathan Weiss right to his face. You're going to cost us three. I don't if something's fair, I'm fine with fair. We are a board. We are fine with fair. But you know, come on. You know the context here in the county. So I did have an opinion. It turns out Warren, sorry about that. >> Had a lot of opinions tonight. I, you know, >> so I guess I would say like we do need equity in our assessments. This does need to happen. Yes, >> I am very I am making this board aware that there are potential revenue losses on the horizon and I have had business managers from other counties who've gone through this who've been warning me
069about this for years. Okay. So, I you know so I I'm not editorializing here. I'm speaking from experience and others experiences and uh I I do think this is a very real threat to um our revenue model you know going forward. we could lose in year one or two uh a pretty significant part of our our tax base. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions on on the topic of uh budgets or finances before we move on? >> I want to thank everybody for their participation. I think these are important discussions. >> Okay. Since we've been talking about money for a little while, Mrs. Carum, would you like to uh go through the treasures and the bills report and maybe give us some good news? >> I'm just going to
070give you the report. Um, we began the month with a cash balance of $24,577,655. We took in monthly revenues of 8,885,66087. Our net dispersements were $6,243,39310 for a cash balance available of 27,219,92282. >> Thank you very much. May I please have a motion to approve the treasures and bills report? >> So moved. >> Second. >> On a motion. Questions? Roll call, please. Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Karum, >> yes. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Abdella, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mr. Aker, >> yes. >> 70. >> Mr. Aer, this time I'd ask the board to consider a motion to approve the personnel report as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. On the motion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Kum? >> Yes. >> Mr.
071Robson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Tierney? Yes, >> Mr. Abdullah. >> Yes, >> Mr. Azar. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Henderson. >> Yes, >> Mr. Aker. >> Yes. >> 70. And thank you for letting me retire. >> Wait, are you going to be on I9? >> I'd like to change my mind. >> I think we have a couple more roll calls to go. Mr. Chair, >> Mr. Aer, at this time I'd ask the board to consider a motion to approve the November 2025 volunteer list. >> So moved. >> Second. >> On the motion. Again, our list is something like 12 pages long. It's amazing. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mr. Robson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Tierney, >> yes. >> Mr. Abdullah, >> yes. >> Mr. Azar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Henderson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Karum, >>
072yes. >> Mr. Aker, >> yes. >> 70. >> Okay. Uh, we're almost at the end here. We do have some unfinished business. We have a board report. >> Yes, sir. >> Mrs. Henderson, would you like to uh tell us about the curriculum committee? >> Sure thing. Curriculum committee. Anthony on November 5th, um we discussed comprehensive uh plan goal number one, curriculum instruction and assessment social studies uh which is social studies K6 curriculum implementation update. Uh Mrs. Beck, our kindergarten, one of our kindergarten teachers at noon ransom is piloting the elementary curriculum in each of the grades and is consulting with Dr. Calder. Uh so far it's working out as they hoped. students seem engaged and it is translating well to other subject areas. The next steps will be how to decide that it will how
073it will be implemented throughout the district moving forward. Um the admin teams have been completing instructional walkthroughs at every level. Um they are offering feedback based on instruction and learning. Building administrators are using Dr. Sam Mormando's AI learning platform to synthesize their notes to look at information that is consistent across their observations and then aligning it to Danielson's framework. This is being used to level set and give feedback that is actionable. Dr. Morandos is coming later this month to meet with the admin team to talk about the next steps. Comprehensive plan goal number two, school climate uh residents education update. Our consultant is working with teachers and staff to layer SEAL into existing instruction across subjects. They're using the framework and they are hoping that helping teachers to incorporate a shared language and brief conversation
074starters that build awareness and connection without adding to their workload. Early feedback has been positive and teachers appear receptive to the practical strategies provided. Uh subject number two is our family and caregiver workshops. In the 24-25 school year, we expanded our workshops for parents and caregivers to offer additional education and support. The topics were selected directly from survey feedback collected at the end of the 2324 school year. Workshops were offered once a month at the high school and dinner and child care were provided. Strengthening family partnerships is an important part of our district's commitment to supporting the whole child. Yet, last year's workshop format saw low attendance. Feedback from families indicated that the primary barrier was lack of time. To address this, we will create a subcommittee to conduct a deeper review and brainstorm meaningful
075ways to deliver these workshops as valuable support to our families. One potential approach is to pair workshops with events that are already well attended. Our first step will be to gather input from building principles to identify high attendance events at their schools and to hear their feedback and suggestions. Once this information is collected, the subcommittee will meet to develop a timeline and a plan for the remainder of the school year. The plan is for the subcommittee to meet in December. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 4th. >> Any questions? >> Thank you very much. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Okay. Any other reports? Is there any other new business? >> I I would like to have a few minutes. >> Of course, Mrs. Tierney, you stole my >> Thank you.
076Humor me for a few more minutes as this is my last night under this microphone. Reflecting on my five terms at Abington Heights, the time along with the environment of the Abington Heights community really set the tone in the direction of how a board director actually sees and makes decisions. Approximately 25 years ago, I helped to establish a community group called the concerned parents of Abington Heights. During that time, our teachers union was exercising their right to strike. A group of us parents along with community, a bunch of community members actually went with our senator Melo at the time to Harrisburg to try to get a bill passed which was binding arbitration. Our teachers contracts were over 75% of our operating budgets which we see still today and the community was really struggling with the
077high cost of health care and the pension costs. It was driving our operational costs out of control. So I started to attend schoolboard meetings. I listened to the community's concerns and I watched the process of a governing school board. So now I'm going to share with you a little bit of politics. I decided to run for the board. And as I was cleaning out all of my old stuff, I found my door hangers that I walked in every neighborhood in 2005. I have to say, I look cute there. And this is what I wrote. I was a voice of the community committed to making a change for uninterrupted quality education, fiscal responsibility, community involvement and accountability. So I ran and it started my first term. Being a product of Abington Heights and knowing that my
078parents moved to the Abingtons in the 60s was no surprise that academics come first. With a new superintendent and a majority of the board members being sworn in, I was a part of a team that supported the administration's high standards of a very rigorous curriculum curriculum. AP courses were added with strong curriculum along with professional development to challenge students and prepare for the AP exams. We were leading local districts to offer dual enrollment. The numbers of colleges participating is a testament to the curriculum offered. Abington Heights extended its relationship with CTC, our career technology center and continue to offer technology and nocti courses in the curriculum. We supported administrators and in high school career pathway course choices, allowing students to select courses pertaining to careers of interest. I was a part of a team that
079celebrated along with the administration the blue ribbon awards from the governor's office. Our South Abington Elementary received a blue ribbon which is a high standard award in their strong literacy and strong reading curriculum along with our teachers initiatives. Our middle school our middle school was awarded a blue ribbon also from the governor's office. I was honored along with administration to give Mrs. Wolf, the governor's wife, a tour of our middle school. The state was so impressed with the middle school specials courses and also very specifically the piloted afterchool program with extended afterchool activities run by faculty and transportation for all students. Abington Heights was the statewide example of for other districts with middle school hours and we were very proud that it was self- sustaining. We supported hiring curriculum specialists, made tough decisions on curriculum
080adjustments, changing the traditional concept of our libraries through attrition and the changing of the world of technology along in our libraries. removing our transition program a very difficult decision also through attrition and curriculum administration at that time during a did a study on the cognitive thinking of a five and six-year-old and the findings at that time from our specialist Dr. Quinn was that Abington Heights 2.5hour curriculum was a great fit for the curriculum at that time. Making adjustments in our music department was also very difficult and through attrition in the size of the student population was the challenge that we had to do. My favorite time spent on this board is graduation day. listening to the incredible speeches, looking at the smiles on the graduates, but also looking at their teachers that work so hard
081to help them achieve their diploma. Not to mention the energy that the PIT always has when we have graduation there. I've along with the team supported many building renovations, closing buildings, fourth grade students at Waverly moving up to the middle school for a year while their building was being renovated. High school major renovations, roof repairs along with full replacements, field renovations, and new facilities, tennis courts, and we all know all the extras. Finally, as I've navigated my way for these past terms, five terms, after my own children have been through the district, I was asked to be a volunteer junior high and varsity track and cross country assistant coach. The opportunity to help mentor student athletes has been an incredible rewarding honor for me. Before the last event of every season, I would get asked
082if I was going to come back and if I was going to be the coach for the next year. I have attempted to retire three times. Yes, I did get pulled back. But I have been so honored and it has been probably the highlight of my time here. I have had dozens of student athletes ask me for recommendations to both National Honor Society and colleges of recommendations. That is the ultimate honor to me and it has been a pleasure to serve Abington Heights and I am going to miss it all and I want to wish luck to all of my current board directors in having the success for your terms and continuing your terms and enjoying the way I've enjoyed Abington Heights. And it's been a pleasure to work with all of you. Thank you.
083Oh, >> and thank you so much for this jacket. This is going to be worn every day. Thank you. >> You go run in it, too. >> Well, you better believe I'm going to run in it tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you all. >> Congratulations, right? >> But how about how cute I was then? 2000. >> I know. Pass that around. Right. >> I thought that was taken yesterday. >> Okay. >> Oh, you know what? >> May I please have a motion to adjourn? >> So, move. Let me see.